Women's Hockey: Weber sets shutout record

The women's hockey team’s season began on a disappointing note, with the Tigers dropping five of their first six battles on the ice. This start was only the beginning of what became a roller coaster year for Princeton (16-14-1 overall, 13-8-1 ECAC Hockey), characterized by both streaks of poor play and streaks of outstanding execution. A seven-game winless streak put the Tigers’ conference record at 3-6-1, and the team was at risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

With the season on the line, Princeton delivered. Sparked by the play of junior goalie Rachel Weber, the Tigers won their next eight games, including a 3-0 shutout against No. 5 Boston College. During the streak, Weber recorded six shutouts and set an ECAC and Princeton record for consecutive scoreless minutes. At 289 minutes and 43 seconds, Weber’s streak stands as the fourth-longest in NCAA history.

“Weber's strong play in net was probably the most contributing factor to our turnaround, most obviously because she was unwilling to let the other team score,” junior forward and 2011-12 co-captain Charissa Stadnyk said. “Her performance gave our team confidence and ... propelled us to improve and gave us extra motivation to keep the streak going, which was then seen in the results of our team win streak.”

The Tigers followed their winning streak with a strong performance and won 13 of final 15 regular-season games, propelling themselves from postseason bubble team to fourth place in the ECAC. Princeton was not able to carry this momentum into the ECAC tournament, however, losing the first two games of a best-of-three series against fifth-place Quinnipiac. This is the fifth year in a row that the Tigers have lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Despite the loss of second-team All-Ivy senior defender Sasha Sherry, senior defender Laura Martindale and senior forward Caroline Park, junior forward and co-captain Paula Romanchuk appears confident for the upcoming year, and with good reason. Freshman forward Olivia Mucha led the team, along with Sherry, with 21 points, and freshman forward Denna Liang was not far behind with 18.

“Our freshmen had a very good year so I look for them to mature and contribute even more next year,” said Romanchuk, who will serve as co-captain again next year. “We have a very strong core of players and have four incoming freshmen that we expect to contribute right away. I know it will be a great year, and we're looking forward to it.”

The Tigers had two second-team All-Ivy selections, a superstar goalie, and a stellar freshman duo, but head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 was particularly thrilled with the seniors’ performance in the team’s final home game.

For the first and only time of the season, all three seniors had an assist or goal. Park recorded her first goal of the year while Martindale dished out her sixth assist and Sherry capped off her career in Baker Rink with a hat trick.

“The moment I will remember the most was our Senior Day game against Renessaelar,” Kampersal said. “All three seniors, who gave so much to Princeton women’s ice hockey over their careers, stepped up in a big way that day. We had a big crowd that day consisting of many youth hockey players who witnessed their role models’ special performance.”